1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for monitoring the operation of an aircraft, especially a helicopter.
2. Description of the Related Art
More precisely, the present invention relates to a monitoring system of the type comprising:
data acquisition and processing means able to provide information relating to the operation of said aircraft; and PA1 display means comprising at least one screen and able to display at least information provided by said acquisition and processing means, with a view to its presentation to at least one pilot of said aircraft. PA1 data acquisition and processing means able to provide information which relates to the operation of said aircraft and which is grouped together in information pages; PA1 display means able to display at least information provided by said acquisition and processing means, with a view to its presentation to at least one pilot of said aircraft; and PA1 selection means for selecting, from among said information pages, at least one information page intended to be displayed by said display means, is noteworthy in that said acquisition and processing means centralize data relating to said aircraft and group them together, after processing as appropriate, in said information pages, in that said acquisition and processing means form at least one information page containing a flight report of at least the latest flight of said aircraft, and in that said selection means automatically select, at the end of a flight of said aircraft, said flight report which is then displayed automatically by said display means. PA1 by virtue of the centralizing of the data by the acquisition and processing means, the system in accordance with the invention takes into account all the data liable to influence the operation of said aircraft, as will be seen in greater detail below; PA1 by virtue of the information selection capability, the pilot(s) of the aircraft can be made aware of a considerable quantity of information, especially of information which is not generally displayed in the usual systems, through lack of space, said selection being for example made as a function of specified flight conditions or flight phases or as a function of a preprocessing identifying abnormal conditions of operation and informing the pilot(s) only in this case; and PA1 by virtue of the invention, the flight report is automatically available at the end of each flight, consequently allowing global and efficient monitoring of the operation of the aircraft. PA1 Furthermore, as will be seen below, by grouping the information together into homogeneous categories in the various pages, the understanding and management of the information by the pilot(s) is simplified. PA1 Moreover, through appropriate selections, for example of two or three specified pages to be displayed simultaneously, it is always possible to provide the aircraft crew with the essential parameters, thereby also increasing the efficiency of monitoring. PA1 at least to the values of at least some of the following parameters, of at least one engine of the aircraft: the speed of rotation of the gas generator of the engine, the gas ejection temperature at the free turbine inlet, the engine torque, the temperature of the oil and the pressure of the oil; and/or PA1 at least to the values of at least some of the following parameters of said helicopter: the temperature and pressure of the main gearbox, electrical characteristics, the hydraulic pressure, the bending moment of the shaft of the main rotor, the quantity and pressure of the fuel and the maximum forward speed of the helicopter. PA1 at least one first-limitation indicator representative of a parameter limiting at least one engine of said aircraft; and/or PA1 at least information regarding characteristics of at least one engine of said aircraft; and/or PA1 at least information regarding electrical characteristics of said aircraft; and/or PA1 at least information regarding a soundness check of at least one engine of said aircraft, as well as at least one flight report of at least the latest flight of said aircraft. PA1 the flight number; PA1 the flight duration; PA1 the number of cycles of the engine or engines; PA1 the total number of cycles of the engine or engines; PA1 the number of cycles of the free turbine; PA1 the total number of cycles of the free turbine; PA1 as appropriate, a message indicating a detection of fault during the flight; and PA1 as appropriate, a message indicating a detection of exceedings of limitations. PA1 said display means comprise at least one screen comprising a plurality of different colors, respectively representing: PA1 said colors are subject to an order of priority, so as to avoid overlays of colors on said screen; PA1 in order to highlight the value of at least one displayed parameter, with respect to at least one limit value of said parameter, said display means display, in addition to said value, at least one characteristic sign whose color and/or shape vary as a function of this value, relative to said limit value; and/or PA1 said display means comprise at least one screen comprising a liquid crystal active matrix.
Of course, for the purposes of limiting the area available, especially on the instrument panel of the aircraft, the number of screens of said display means is generally limited, as is the size of the screen or screens used. Furthermore, especially for the purposes of pilot comfort, it is preferable not to overload said screen or screens with displayed signs or values.
Accordingly, only the information deemed essential is generally depicted to the pilot(s), secondary information not being collected and/or displayed, this of course possibly being a great impediment and not allowing satisfactory monitoring of the operation of the aircraft especially in flight, since the pilot(s) is aware of only a limited part of the important information.
The efficiency of this known monitoring system is therefore reduced and often insufficient.
From an article by Farmer, entitled "The mission computer/electronic display subsystem for the C-17A avionics suite" (IEEE 1992), a monitoring system of this type is known. This system also comprises means for selecting formats corresponding to various modes, as well as to "sub-modes". However, only certain information deemed essential is collected and can be displayed so that this known system has the aforesaid drawbacks.
The same holds for the system described in an article by Gartner, entitled "Human engineering evaluation of a cockpit display/input device using a touch sensitive screen" (Agard conference proceedings No. 240).